rowley



' Cook, .and State of Illinois,

:Arms Farmers nowmr, or cmceeo, rumors.

ARTIFICIAL FOOT.

Specification o( Letters Iatent.

Patented Oct. 21, 1919.

Application led November 19, 1917. Serial No, 202,776.

To all w kom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES FRANCIS Row- LEY, a citizen 'of theUnitedStates of America, and a resident of Chicago, county of haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Artificial Feet, ofwhich the following is a s ecificaton.

= he main objects of this invention are to provide an improvedartificial foot; to provide an improved form and arrangement ofcushioning means for yieldinglyresisting the relative movements of thearticulated parts ofthe foot and absorbing the shocks incident to thetread of the foot and the shifting of the weight from one part of thcJfoot to the other during the .act of walking; and to provide animproved construction of the core part of said foot.

An illustrative embodiment of this invention is shown in theaccompanying drawings, in which- Fig'ure 1 is a sectional elevation ofthe improved form of foot.

Fig. '2 is u detail showing a modified arrangement of the forwardcushioning means.

In the specific embodiment herein shown, the foot comprises a leg memberor shin section and a foot core 2 articulated thereon by means of ahinge consisting of a bolt 3 and a bolt 4 connected together by a pin 5which is journaled on the ball' bearings 6.

The shin section 1- is hollowed out so as provide a socket 7 tapered atthe lower end wherein a plug 8 is wedged, which lug provides a supportfor the bolt 3. A liase member 9 extends across the bottom of the shinsection and coacts with the plug 8 for supporting the bolt 3. The lowerface of the base 9 forwardly of the hinge connection is substantiallyhorizontal, whereas rearwardly of the hinge connection it is inclined uwardly and rearwardly.

The oot core 2 is embedded in a foot form or body 10 made of spongerubber and conforming to the generalshape of the human foot. The -upperface of this foot core 2 is substantially horizontal and parallel withthe lower face of the base part 9 forwardly of the hinge. The lower faceof the foot core 2 adjacent to the front is concave at 11 and inclineddownwardly and earwardly so as to providesa kind of reor pocket lwhichtends to resist the or creeping of the sponge rubber along the core whenthe pressure is upon the ball of the foot.

The improved cushioning means comprises a spring-rubber block 12 and aspring-rubber disk 13 interposed between opposed faces of the core 2 andshin base 9 at opposite sides of the hinge. These sprin are formed offirm live rubber so that whl e they are capable of yielding, they offerconsiderable resistance, and as soon as the pressure is relieved, theyresume their normal Ashapes.

The block 12 is preferably of cylindrical form and extends through ahole near the rear end of the foot core 2 and is slightly inclinedforwardly,l at an angle to the vertical. The upper end of thiscylindrical block is seated in a recess 14 formed in the under face ofthe base part 9. The lower end 15 is embedded in the sponge rubber whichforms the heel portion of the foot form 10.

The disk 13 is seated in a comparatively deep recess 16 formed in thefoot core 2, and in a shallow recess formed in the base part 9 by meansoi which the disk is secured against dislodgment. An aperture or opening1R is formed in the disk 13 which permits the disk to be expandedor`distorted laterally into said opening when said disk is ompressedaxially between said core and ase.

In the modification shown in Fig. 2, the base part 9 has a pin 19 formedthereon which fits in the opening 18 of the ringshaped disk 13, and therecess in the core 2 is greater in diameter than the disk, so that when.said disk is compressed, the expansion or distortion occurs around theperiphery of the disk.

These two pieces of live Springrubber located between the articulatedparts of the foot at opposite sides of their connection, serve tovieldingly resist the relative shifting oisaid parts and to absorb theshocks which occur durin, T the process of walking. Being! formed offirm live rubber. they will vield to the pressure or shocks andmaterially absorb the same. but as soon as such pressure or shocks areremoved. theyl will resume their normal form. thus insuring the normalrelation of the articulated parts of said foot.

Although but one specific embodiment of this invention has been hereinshown and described, it will be understood that numerous details of theconstruction shown may be altered or omitted without departing from thespirit of this invention es defined by the following claims.

I claim:

l. An artificiel foot, comprising e leg member, e foot core hingedlymounted below seid leg member, und a s ring-,rubbercushion'extendingebove and be ow said Acore so ns to benl directlybetween said leg l11ember end the lower part of the foot.

2. An artificiel foot, comprising' e. shin section, a. foot corehingedly mounted thereon, a foot form supported on and sm:- roundingseid foot core, end e block of spri -rubber extending through the rearend o said foot core land having the 11p-per end bearing against saidshin section and the lower 'end embedded in the heel portion ofsaid footformi.

3. An artificiel foot, comprising a shin section, ln. foot core hingedlymounted thereon, a foot form supported on and snrrounding said footcore; and `1p. spring-'rubber disk inte sed between the opposed faces of"said shin section end foot come, said foot core having aoomparativelydeep recess and seid shin section having e comparatively shallow reeessWithin which said disk is adapted to fit,- so as to be secure againstdislodlgment, said disk having a, central opcning formed therein Wherebsaid dish: is

Vudepted to expand lateral y when com,-

pressed axially between seid core and shin section.

4. An artificial foot, comprising n shin hinge connection, Seid corebeing moeseedl to receive said disk to secure it against dislodgment butpermitting the lateral expension of said dlsk when compressed axiallybetween said core and shin section. V

Sgned at Chicago this 15th dey of Nov., 191

JAMES FRANCIS fROWLEY.

